February 2015:
After seeing a fellow IMDber mention the 1945 movie Detour on the Film Noir board,I decided to look around for any interesting info related to the flick.Whilst searching round,I shocked to stumble upon some trivia about an interesting-sounding remake of the film.With the original being very easy to get hold of,I was disappointed to find that there was nowhere online where the remake could be seen.
May 2015: After having given up on tracking down the title,I was completely caught by surprise,when a very kind fellow IMDber gave me directions which would allow me to finally take the detour.
The plot-1942:
Eating in a greasy spoon,drifter Al Roberts hears a song on the radio that used to be Roberts and his girlfriend Sue Harvey's "song" which leads to Roberts thinking about how he has got here.
The past:
Working in the same night club,Roberts and Harvey find themselves quickly falling for each other.Having dreams about seeing her face on the big screen,Harvey reveals to Roberts that she is going to quit the nightclub and head for Hollywood.Missing his sweetheart,Roberts soon gets sacked from the club. Phoning up Harvey,Roberts announces that since he has lost his job,he is going to drift to Hollywood,so that they can get married.Standing by a road,Roberts accepts the first offer of a lift,which unknown to Roberts,will lead to him taking a deadly detour in life.
View on the film:
Making her one & only screen appearance, Lea Lavish gives a fantastic performance as Vera,that covers the movie in cracking one- liners,as Lavish shows Vera to be a brittle Femme Fatale dame who wastes no time in getting to the point and digging her wisecracking heels into Al Roberts neck.Whilst his voice over narration lacks a frantic urgency, Tom Neal Jr. (who like Lavish also makes his one and only screen appearance) remakes his dads original role with a warm charm,thanks to Neal showing Roberts smooth calmness to become burnt at the edges,as Vera digs him deeper into a Neo-Noir world.
Filming on the same stretch of road as the original,co-writer/(along with Roger C. Hull ) director Wade Williams (who along with owning the rights to the original,has after this, not made another film!) & cinematographer/production designer Jeff Richardson attempt to give the title a gloomy Neo-Noir mood,by dashing deep blue rain across the screen.Despite them making a good attempt at giving the film a stylish look,they sadly get over excited with the use of the rain,which leads to it being very difficult to make out what is taking place.Getting off the road,Williams breaths some life into the moody Neo-Noir world by giving LA a fading sun-kiss look,with the faded colours of the hotel perfectly matching Roberts fading hopes of a successful escape.
Featuring the original ending that was banned by the Hays Code,the screenplay brilliantly covers to contrasting times,with black & white footage showing the harsh cynical nature that has now gripped Roberts,whilst the washed-out colour footage of the past shows the decaying Neo-Noir world that Roberts & Vera are entering.Keeping Sue Harvey's shooting star in the long distance,the writers brilliantly drain Roberts hopes of catching a second glimpse of Harvey's star,as Roberts starts to take an unlucky detour.
After seeing a fellow IMDber mention the 1945 movie Detour on the Film Noir board,I decided to look around for any interesting info related to the flick.Whilst searching round,I shocked to stumble upon some trivia about an interesting-sounding remake of the film.With the original being very easy to get hold of,I was disappointed to find that there was nowhere online where the remake could be seen.
May 2015: After having given up on tracking down the title,I was completely caught by surprise,when a very kind fellow IMDber gave me directions which would allow me to finally take the detour.
The plot-1942:
Eating in a greasy spoon,drifter Al Roberts hears a song on the radio that used to be Roberts and his girlfriend Sue Harvey's "song" which leads to Roberts thinking about how he has got here.
The past:
Working in the same night club,Roberts and Harvey find themselves quickly falling for each other.Having dreams about seeing her face on the big screen,Harvey reveals to Roberts that she is going to quit the nightclub and head for Hollywood.Missing his sweetheart,Roberts soon gets sacked from the club. Phoning up Harvey,Roberts announces that since he has lost his job,he is going to drift to Hollywood,so that they can get married.Standing by a road,Roberts accepts the first offer of a lift,which unknown to Roberts,will lead to him taking a deadly detour in life.
View on the film:
Making her one & only screen appearance, Lea Lavish gives a fantastic performance as Vera,that covers the movie in cracking one- liners,as Lavish shows Vera to be a brittle Femme Fatale dame who wastes no time in getting to the point and digging her wisecracking heels into Al Roberts neck.Whilst his voice over narration lacks a frantic urgency, Tom Neal Jr. (who like Lavish also makes his one and only screen appearance) remakes his dads original role with a warm charm,thanks to Neal showing Roberts smooth calmness to become burnt at the edges,as Vera digs him deeper into a Neo-Noir world.
Filming on the same stretch of road as the original,co-writer/(along with Roger C. Hull ) director Wade Williams (who along with owning the rights to the original,has after this, not made another film!) & cinematographer/production designer Jeff Richardson attempt to give the title a gloomy Neo-Noir mood,by dashing deep blue rain across the screen.Despite them making a good attempt at giving the film a stylish look,they sadly get over excited with the use of the rain,which leads to it being very difficult to make out what is taking place.Getting off the road,Williams breaths some life into the moody Neo-Noir world by giving LA a fading sun-kiss look,with the faded colours of the hotel perfectly matching Roberts fading hopes of a successful escape.
Featuring the original ending that was banned by the Hays Code,the screenplay brilliantly covers to contrasting times,with black & white footage showing the harsh cynical nature that has now gripped Roberts,whilst the washed-out colour footage of the past shows the decaying Neo-Noir world that Roberts & Vera are entering.Keeping Sue Harvey's shooting star in the long distance,the writers brilliantly drain Roberts hopes of catching a second glimpse of Harvey's star,as Roberts starts to take an unlucky detour.